Your Vogue history

Adele - Style File

ADELE was catapulted from talented unknown to full-blown
international star. With only two albums under her belt (both of
them debuted at number one, and her second album, 21, held
the top of the charts for sixteen weeks straight), she has won
Grammys, Brit Awards, a Golden Globe and even an Oscar.

Yet, the South Londoner's background is as unstarry as you can
get - no parental musical legacy to ride on here. Instead, Adele's
single mother, Penny, used to encourage her daughter to stand on a
table and belt out Dreams by Gabrielle when she should
have been tucked up in bed. "My mum's quite arty," said the singer.
"She'd get all these lamps and shine them up to make one big
spotlight".

The centre of attention is where flame-haired, green-eyed Adele
Laurie Blue Adkins belongs. Born in 1988, in Tottenham,
London, at 14 the singer went to the free performing arts BRIT
school in Croydon, along with classmates Leona Lewis and Jessie J
(Kate Nash and Amy Winehouse are
also alumni). Initially, Adele thought her career would lie in
production, but after posting two songs to an online music forum,
she received a phone call from independent label XL Recordings (who
also have The White Stripes, MIA and Dizzee Rascal on their books).
And the rest is musical history.

While her voice has needed little improvement, her sense of
style has evolved over the last few years from self-confessed
scruff. ("From twelve to thirteen I was a Grunger," she told US
Vogue. "Then I really got into R&B and became a Rude
Girl - in Adidas, with a spit curl ... and tiny Nike
backpacks.")

Now she favours elegant black dresses by the likes of Burberry,
Armani and Barbara Tfank when attending various events, always
accompanied with voluminous glossy hair and classic make-up.